Traditionally, printer units have been employed in a home or office environment to connect to a personal computer, to enable electronic documents and images to be readily downloaded to the printer unit for printing. Standard connecting cables are typically provided to connect the printer unit to the computer, and such cables are generally configured to mate with standard sockets provided in the printer unit and sockets associated with the computer, to establish electrical connection for transmission of image data.
Whilst such a connection system is sufficient for connecting a printer unit to a permanent or semi-permanent image source such as a computer, it does not readily lend itself to establishing an electrical connection between portable image sources such as digital cameras and the like, which typically require specific connecting leads.
Digital cameras capable of producing video or still images have become increasingly popular, due in the main to their ease of use and the fact that images are stored electronically rather than on a roll of film. In this regard, in order to produce traditional photos of the stored images, the images are downloaded from the camera to an image printer where the image is printed onto a media, such as photographic paper. This can be performed at retail outlets whereby a dedicated printer unit is provided to receive the image from the camera and print out selected images onto appropriate sized paper. At such outlets the camera can be docked into position with the dedicated printer unit or connected by supplied cables, to facilitate the transfer of the image data from the printer unit to the printer unit. As the printer unit is dedicated to performing such tasks, the printer unit typically is provided with a wide range of connectors to suit the variety of digital cameras commercially available.
In recent times, many commercially available printer units have been introduced which are capable of receiving image data from a mobile source such as a digital camera and allow printing of images from such a source. Typically, such printer units are provided with standard sockets which receive connecting cables that are provided with the mobile source and allow the mobile source to communicate with the printer unit to transmit images for printing. In these cases, if a connecting cable is required to connect the mobile source to the printer unit, the user must have ready access to the connecting cable, which requires the cable to be carried with the user. In this regard, for matters of convenience, the user may not always carry the connecting cable with the camera, or the connecting cable may be misplaced and as such, a replacement cable may need to be accessed to facilitate printing.
There is a requirement therefore, to provide a printer unit that is capable of receiving data from an image input device such as a digital camera or the like, and which includes a connector element that is integral with the printer unit to receive image data from the image input device for printing.